Darkened Horizons

The bustling port city of Stableside. The largest port in Equestria, and the hub of all import and export for the nation. This was where the adventure began. The buildings were usually no less than two stories tall, much of the area being stacked on top of itself. With the massive amount of people from various races packing the streets tight with luggage, merchandise, freight, compost, produce, and pretty much everything under the sun. The streets themselves could have been better kept, with cracks and holes forming in the brick. The ports themselves were probably the most in-repair part of the city, seeing so much use that it was necessary to keep them neat.

One particular ship was waiting on a few arrivals before it would depart. The vessel was less than impressive, and the crew was... Questionable... But it was more than seaworthy, and this was the ship that was named in the letter sound out to the potential adventurers, the Devil Dodger. There would be a scraggly looking Diamond Dog chatting with an armored earth pony mare, golden coat and a styled red and black mane cut short. They simply laughed and conversed while they waited for their guests to arrive.

A purple mare made her way through the bustling crowd. "Excuse me... pardon me... sorry..." She looked around, searching for her destination. She stopped as she finally found it, looking a bit less enthusiastic at the vessel, but as soon as she was pushed around again she knew there was no time to stand and gawk. She quickly made her way towards the ship, and saw the earth pony mare and the diamond dog chatting to eachother. She took a deep breath and stepped forward.

"Uhm, excuse me?" she said, trying to get the attention of the mare. "My name is Civviq Writer. I was told I had to gather here, in front of the..." She looked to the ship. 'Devil Dodger', for 'the adventure?'"

A male human walked though the busy streets of stableside heading to the docks, dodging and avoiding the ponies and the other races on his way, not wanting to miss "the adventure" he has Heard about, having his backpack filled with the nececary Tools and Equipment needed, and after a few minutes he reached the port.

opon reaching the port he began to look after devil dodger, but when finding it, he was slightly dismayd att the sight of the boat, Walking Close to the edge of the port and the boat he says "not...quite the state i thought this boat would be in for adventuring... i hope it holds.." Before hearing a conversation Close to him and looked around a bit Before seeing a Diamond dog, a Purple mare and a armored gold coated mare.

He walked closer to the trio and waved "hello, is this the meeting Point for "the adventure" and the devil dodger?" he asks Before bowing, being only 1 1/2 pony heads taller "the names pyro, pleased to meet ya"

A rather tall individual was talking through the docks, searching for a certain ship. She was quite taller than the rest of the folk, standing at 8 feet in height with addition of a very long tail of a tiger shark. She walked through the docks carefully to not accidentally bump into anyone, until she finally found the ship she was looking for, along with the diamond dog and a mare chatting. She smiled as she walked up to them, looking at the human and purple mare, giving them a smile before turning her eyes back at the diamond dog and earth pony. "Hello!" she announced herself, her voice being a bit high for her size. "I hope I came to the right place for the so called adventure? Oh, where are my manners. My name is Naina, pleased to meet you all!" she said with a big smile on her face. She was wearing merely a t-shirt and shorts, both colored bright green and a big backpack with all the needed stuff inside.

An black mane and violet highlight, earth pony was walking among the crowd seemingly distracted by the book in her hand. She was wearing an amethyst vest that went over her black button shirt with the top two buttons undone, and the sleeves that reach half way down her arms. In one of her shirt's pockets was another book almost like the one she reading. she was also wearing an dark blue jeans, combat boots and had an Black back pack with all of her tools, equipment and a decent supply of "medicine."Even though she was distracted by her book, she got out of the crowd and walked up to her fellow crew members, without bumping into anyone. Final lowing her book and looking at the ship and her crew members. "I must say this is quite an crew we have here. Name's Nightingale, But most just call me Gale, nice to meet ya."((I'm guessing we already anthro so She about average height.))

A single figure stood off to the side as they watched the crowd. A brown adventurer's hat was on their head, the rim of it casting a shadow over their face, a curved horn sticking out of the top. They wore a light brown long sleeved shirt that looked worn and tattered with a little bit of holes in it. Their pants were equally long and tattered looking. Around their neck hung a canteen and in their hand was a worn, weathered, and burnt book. A backpack was also on their back, holding the things they needed. They took a moment to put their book into their backpack, revealing bug like wings with holes in them for a few seconds before looking around the docks once more.

Their eyes settled on a tall person who looked like a shark. They lifted an eyebrow at the sight, looking around the shark and noticing the equally odd crowd. "Adventure lures the oddest of people? Mmm...That seems true enough." They said to themselves before walking over to the odd crowd. They looked at the boat for a moment, smiling. "So long as it's seaworthy I'm happy." They turned towards the diamond dog and mare, taking off their hat and bowing to them. The moment the hat came off it was very clear that this person was a changeling...and that their frill was red. "Hello there fair mare and diamond dog. I call myself Jamberry." They said before putting the hat back on their head.

Cynder watched as, one by one, a group started to form in front of her, a look of excitement growing with each new arrival. "Oh. My. Celestia!" She yelps excitedly at the group before her. "Double D, look! They're here! I told you they would come! I'm relevant!" The diamond dog just rolled his eyes as Cynder darted over to the group and started getting familiar with all of them. "So much diversity! A changeling, Double D! A changeling!!" She shouts this as she wraps an arm around Jamberry's shoulders before moving on to the next adventurer.

She stood by Naina now, the tall sharkgirl being wondrously tall. "She's a walking shark!" She shouts, looking up at Naina from her low height. She then looked over at Pyro, her eyes looking him over for a second before enthusiastically pointing in his direction. "HAIRLESS MONKEY!" She states, possibly the loudest she's been so far. "And yooouuuuu two look pretty normal..." She finally says to Civvique and Gale.

"Omigosh! I'm so sorry, I just get so excited before an adventure!" Cynder shakes her black hands energetically and finally calms down... A bit... "Good to meet you all! I'm Cynder Ardor, leader of this expedition! Mmmmaayybbe you've heard of me? Read my book perhaps?"

Jamberry blinked and stared at Cynder as she put an arm around his shoulders. This was...a most odd reaction to him revealing he was a changeling. "Huh...That's odd...most ponies run and scream when they find out I'm a changeling...This is great!" He said with a smile before looking over at the..."hairless monkey". "I think a better term would be hairless ape. Because monkeys have tails and apes don't. And this...hairless thing doesn't have a tail I can see." He said with a smile at Cynder. He continued to listen to her speak, waiting till she was done. "Read your book? ...No it's rather hard for me to get books to read. Since...you know...changeling and all...It's rather hard for me to go out to a store and buy anything for myself really. Ehh. At least I'm here and am able to go on an adventure. Pleasure to meet you Cynder and you ah...Double D."

pryo had a rather dead panned look after cynder called him a hairless monkey only to facepalm hard after the changeling called him a hairless ape instead which caused pyro to groan in anoyance.

A moment he says "please, refer me as a human, not a hairless ape or monkey, allright? i find it slightly anoying...insulting att best." he says before streching but as cynder said if he had heard about her or her book, he shook his head "sorry, havent heard about you or your books before" he says before he looks around the group and the boat

Naina smiled at the mare as she was greeting everyone, seemingly being extremely excited. She released a silent giggle when Cynder shouted in front of her. "A walking shark. Pretty decent 'in a nutshell' presentation of me." she thought to herself as she observed the earth pony mare jump around in excitement and greeting others. Naina couldn't help but admit that 'hairless ape' also well described the human named Pyro. "I can only hope he won't try to burn the boat down..." the sharkgal thought before continuing to listen to Cynder and Double D. "Uh, no, sorry, haven't really... seen it.. anywhere." Naina carefully answered Cynder's question, shyly smiling at her.

Gale raised an eyebrow to the "normal" comment. "I'm normal looking? *gestures to her eyes with her book* Whatever you say you would find out I'm far from normal.""I think I heard of your before, can't remember where though might of just heard it over an eavesdrop or something." Gale mention before reaching behind her in to one of the backpack side pocket to pull out a small red and swapping it out for the book in her hands and flipping threw it.

Civviq pulled her yellow-and-orange backpack higher up her back and straightened her soft-yellow sweater, intrigued by the diversity of the group. She has never actually met a changeling, or a shark-pony, or a human, or... anything but ponies! She was a little nervous, though. Comes with the unknown, she thought, shrugging it off.

"Oh, have I heard of your books! I have them all in the library at home!" The unicorn's yellow muzzle widened with a grin, grasping Cynder's hand and shaking it vigorously. After she let go, she pushed her orange glasses a bit higher up her muzzle before continuing. "It was one of the reasons I came to this adventure in the first place! The second, well... I had to get out of the library more often anyways," she said with a light chuckle. "See a bit more of the world and all."

Cynder looks more and more disappointed as each one of her potential adventurers denies any knowledge of her books. But she regains her joy and enthusiasm as Civviq mentions she owns all of them! She takes the purple unicorn's hands and hugs her tightly. "Someone to legitimize me!" She exclaims before letting go of her and looking at everyone else. "Alright! Time to fill you all in! This expedition is going to take us far out west, beyond Equestria's borders to the Floating Isles above The Breach!" She explains.

Specifically, we'll be going to the mystical garden Island of Edonna. A magical place with nearly every type of flora that exists growing on it! We'll stay there and explore for a while, then travel to the other isles to explore!"

pyro raised his eyebrow as cynder mentioned the first destination are the floating isles above the breach, a thought poped in his mind of literal floating islands in the sky over a large chasim or a world hole.

Pondering how they would get there in the first Place if it is how he Think it would be, and with the mention of thier fisrt Specific destination of a garden Island, he started to scrach his nose a bit, being a bit allergic to pollen Before asking cynder " umm, the Floating Isles above The Breach? do you mean literal islands floating in the air? and if so, how do we reach them and this mystical garden Island if we have a seafaring vessle? just a thought" he said while scraching his head.

Naina lightly shrugged as she saw Cynder's disappointment to their answers. She was never the one to do the reading, at least not the required one, and she just couldn't help it. The sharkgal was glad that at least someone from the group had read them all.

Naina tilted her head at the mention of their destination. It sounded very interesting, but it made her wonder if she packed well enough for it. In the end, she decided that she shouldn't have to worry, seeing as there should be enough supplies for them on the ship already.

Gale's ear perked up upon hearing the destination. " The breach and the floating isles. Bound to be something for my research... but Pyro, If i got your name correct, does bring up an nice point aren't the floating isle. you know floating in the sky and we have an boat." Gale finish pointing at the ship.

Jam felt bad about Cynder's reaction to their answers. He wish he could have read her books but ponies just hate him...well most ponies. He hung his head a little and sighed. He then perked up and lifted his head when he heard they were going outside of Equestria's borders. He grinned happily and jumped a little like a little foal. "Outside Equestria's borders? Sweet! That might give me a leg up from my parent's exploration hah!" He pumped a fist into the air and cheered a bit before coughing. "Sounds great."

Civviq blinked as she was hugged - not expecting it at all, but she recovered from her surprise quickly as she heard about the destination and gasped. "Ooh! That sounds so beautiful!" She squealed. "I can't wait!"

As she realized the past statements sounded a bit over-enthusiastic, she cleared her throat and pulled her yellow hoody straight. "Uuh... I mean... sure, let's go!" She chuckled a bit sheepishly.

Double D rolled his eyes at all of the criticism. "It's bad luck to question the ship." He says, turning and walking off down the dock to board the ship.

Cynder on the other hand stayed behind and addressed the group. "Yes, I do mean literal floating islands. And don't worry about how we're going to be getting up to it. If there wasn't a way up, then I wouldn't very well be leading this trip!" She puffed her chest and smacked an enthusiastic fist against her armor.

"Now, I see you all packed light. That's good, because there's not too much room on the ship for personal items. BUT! Don't worry because there's more than enough for any souvenirs you'll want to grab! Let's get along so we can get this adventure started!"

Naina shrugged at the diamond dog. "It's more of a 'how will we get to something in the sky with something on the water' than 'will it be able to do it'..." she answered back and looked curiously at Cynder, smiling at her and following the diamond dog onboard the ship.

Civviq nearly skipped on board of the ship, excited to finally be on an adventure! She was looking forward to the sight of floating islands, but it did leave her wondering how in the hay they were going to get up there. Would they climb? Or was this ship also an airship?

As she looked around, she sighed slightly. So this was the ship she'd be staying at, these were the people who she would be spending time with during the trip. She smiled, they all seemed nice enough. She liked them. She just hoped that they wouldn't find her weird... She pushed her glasses higher up her nose. She never was the social type, she was a bit socially awkward. So she had to play it cool, calm and collected. She took a deep breath and stepped on board with resolute steps.

but this is so awesome, she thought, and slightly skipped walking into the ship, smiling slightly.

Jamberry frowned at the diamond dog as he walked back to the ship. He scratched the back of his head a little bit, raising an eyebrow at him. He then turned his attention back to Cynder as she spoke. "Packing lightly is essential for someone like me who travels a lot and is usually disliked among other ponies." He said in a rather cheery tone for what he just said. He blinked as everyone began walking to the ship. He quickly followed behind them all, speed walking. It was probably for the best they got going. He didn't want ponies to start calling the guards, saying they've seen a changeling. He took a deep breath in and let it out, pulling the rim of his hat over his eyes as he smiled to himself. This was going to be a fun adventure, he could just tell.

As the group boarded the ship, they would not be very reassured about the state of the ship. The deck was splintered and looked to be stained with one thing or another. The crew was mostly made up of diamond dogs who looked in need of a bath. The sails were old and yellowing, the ends of the seams starting to fray and come undone. And then there was the odd stench in the air that seemed to permeate from below deck.

"Welcome aboard, everyone!" Cynder stated with gusto, now wearing a sailors cap from who knew where. "This is where we'll be staying for most of the trip! Don't worry though, it's always smelled like this."